I started Thinking
by Allison Huber
Summary: Lily and James meet in their first year and are instant best friends. Over time sparks will fly! My first fic, so tell me what you think!
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize, they are all property of the wonderful J.K. Rowling, I couldn't even hope to be as good as she is.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Lily Evans was not having a good day. Some days can be bad, but this must be the worst possibly day in history. It was her 11th birthday and her sister Petunia had broken her brand new book bag for school. She realized that her mum would just replace it, but it still hurt that Petunia would do something like that and on purpose. She knew why Petunia did it, but that didn't make her feel any better about it. Petunia was 3 years older than Lily and hated the fact that Lily stopped her from being an only child. It didn't matter that Petunia barely even remembered life before Lily was born; it was the principle of it all. Ever since before Lily could remember Petunia had been awful to her. Lily in her younger years didn't understand that cruelty between sisters wasn't normal. Sure, other sisters fought, but not like her and Petunia. They not only hurt with words, they were violent. Lily remembered when Petunia tripped her as she was going down the stairs last week and landed Lily in the hospital with a broken leg. When they were in school homework and friends distracted them, but now that it was summer time, all hell broke loose.  
  
"Lily, get your ugly ass red hair off the bathroom floor!!!!! I can't walk in here without your hair all over my feet!"  
  
"Clean it up yourself you hag! Just because Mum cleans up your room for you, it doesn't mean that you don't have to clean anything. AND I CAN'T HELP IT, I SHED!"  
  
"I never asked Mum to clean my room, she does it on her own!"  
  
"Because if she didn't, something would be growing in there by now!"  
  
"Ever since Dad left you have acted all superior, but you're not, get over yourself, your birthday is nothing special, and its not like Mum and Dad wanted you anyways!"  
  
"Take that back!"  
  
"I will not!"  
  
"GIRLS! You are standing two inches from each other, why in the world are you yelling at the top of your lungs?" Asked Mrs. Evans as she walked into the bathroom looking at her two daughters with a grim expression on her face. It was a hard sight to see, Petunia was in the latest fashion trends trying to fluff up her flat blond hair, and Lily in her glasses, oxford shirt and skirt, leaning on her crutches looking up at Petunia with a look of deepest loathing. "Lily, of course your father and I wanted you, we dreamed about having another child ever since Petunia was born. Petunia, please don't say things like that to your sister, it's her birthday and she deserves to be treated that way. And I heard you say ass, don't let me hear that from your mouth again."  
  
"BUT MUM!" They both yelled.  
  
"No buts! And Lily dear, please try and clean up your hair from the bathroom floor. Petunia, clean your room! I can't even walk through it!"  
  
The two girls walked away (or hobbled in Lily's case), each grumbling about how much they hated the other. Mrs. Evans did not know what she was going to do with them. She loved them both so dearly, but could not stand their fighting. If only her husband didn't travel so much for his job. He could help her play mediator between the two hot-tempered girls. Oh sure, he tried to come home whenever he could, but he was still only there for about 6 months of the year. Her nerves were fried and she still had to talk to Lily about a letter she received by owl that morning. How she was going to explain this, she had no idea.  
  
Rose Evans was surprised to see the owl fly to her window that day, but deep down, she sort of saw it coming. Lily was sometimes able to make odd things happen when she was experiencing very strong emotions, exactly like Rose's sister could. Tulip received a letter delivered by an owl the summer of her 11th year and then she left and never came back. It was a hard subject for Rose to think about and right now she needed to think of how to tell Lily. "Well, I might as well get this over and done with." She thought to herself.  
  
"Lily dear, could you please come in here and talk with me for a little bit?" She asked as nonchalantly as possible.  
  
"Of course Mum, what's up?" Lily asked as her hopped back to the bathroom.  
  
"Lily, what I'm bout to tell you is going to seem. somewhat odd. But I hope that you will be able to keep an open mind and believe me. Lily, this letter came for you today about the coming school year. Lily, you are a witch, which means that you can do magic and you have been accepted into a school of magic in northern Scotland. It is called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. My sister attended it, which is where I am assuming your magic blood comes from. Now I understand this maybe a lot to take in, but please try and think about if you would like to go study magic." Stated Rose Evans in a rush to get everything out at once before she lost her nerve.  
  
"Oh my goodness, are you serious? I can't wait! Ever since Julie got accepted there I have been hoping to receive an owl soon. Mum, can we go to Diagon Alley right away to get all of my supplies?! I will need to exchange some muggle money into wizard money at Gringots, but then we should go to all of the stores and get my uniform, and my wand, and everything else I might need. Oh Mum, can we please go right now?" Lily exclaimed as her bright green eyes sparkled with excitement and laughter behind her glasses at her mother's expression.  
  
"But.. but.. but.how do you know all of this already?" Sputtered Mrs. Evans.  
  
"I told you Mum, Julie got accepted there as well. Ever since she told me about it I have been learning as much about the wizarding world as possible, hoping that all the weird stuff I can do was telling me I was a witch. Oh, I cannot wait to tell her about how I got my letter too. She has been so smug about it."  
  
Rose was slightly taken aback by how much her daughter knew, but she was very pleased, this made her part a lot easier. "Ok dear, go get your shoes on and tell Petunia we are going shopping and then we will head out for London!" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Lily was out the door so quickly; you wouldn't even know that she was on crutches.  
  
Once they had parked the car Lily headed directly for the music store, but towards the side of it. Rose was very confused, why was Lily trying to get to a store that would never sell the types of things she needed? As she watched with amazement, Lily evaporated in to the side of the building. At this Rose was able to figure out that there was a building there that she could not see because of being a muggle. Waiting for Lily to figure out that her mother was not behind her, Rose decided to take in her surroundings. She didn't have much time for that because before she knew it, Lily was pulling on her hand trying to get her to move quicker.  
  
"Mum! Please try and be quicker! I am a gimp and I'm moving faster than you are!" Lily said finally letting go of her mother's hand.  
  
Rose picked up the pace as she walked towards the buildings. "Now Lily, you are going to have to be patient with me, seeing as I can't see where we are going." Lily did not even act as though she heard her, she just kept on moving straight towards the wall, which by Rose's standards, looked very solid. She closed her eyes waiting to be pulled into a brick wall, but when she opened her eyes after feeling no pain, she was in a dingy pub. "Bloody hell." She said softly to herself looking around at all of the patrons of this particular bar.  
  
"Mum! I can't believe you just said that! You never swear!" Lily stated looking at her mother with awe.  
  
"I'm sorry dear, it's just. I never knew there were so many different creatures out there in the magical world, that were so close to us!" Rose murmured, still looking around the bar with wide eyes.  
  
"May I help you ladies?"  
  
The voice snapped Mrs. Evans out of her reverie.  
  
"Yes, sorry. My daughter is starting Hogwarts this year, could you please tell us where to buy her supplies?"  
  
"Right this way. You'll want to go all the way down the street and stop at Gringots to exchange your money." The man with the missing teeth told her. "Then just go to the stores that seem to carry the items she'll be needing that are on her list." He said as he started tapping another brick wall with, what Mrs. Evans could only assume to be, a wand.  
  
"Thank you very much for your help." She stated while walking through the arch the wall had arranged itself into.  
  
As they headed off down the street, Rose remembered that she was the adult there, and she had to stop looking like a child in a candy store, she had to take some authority. "Alright Lily, Gringots it is." She stated as they approached a large, white, marble building. If you asked her, the building seemed very menacing.  
  
A/N: Ok, so that's it! My first chapter of my first story! It isn't very long, but I wanted to get the first chapter out there as soon as possible. Please tell me what you think! 


	2. chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you will recognize.  
  
Chapter 2  
  
As they walked up the stairs towards Gringots, Rose was shocked and surprised to see whom or what opened the door for her. "Lily, what was that?" She asked her daughter out of the corner of her mouth.  
  
"Oh that? That was a goblin. Goblins run and own all of Gringots." Lily stated as she walked up to the nearest teller. "Hello! We would like to exchange muggle money into wizard money please. Also, we would like to open a new account." Her business like tone made her mother realize that Lily was in charge here, and not her. Rose was only here as the woman with the money.  
  
A scratchy voice broke through her thoughts. "Yes, yes of course. Well here you are, this is the key to your new vault. And how much would you like to deposit into it?"  
  
"100 Galleons." Rose said before she knew what she was even saying. Where that came from, she wasn't sure. Once she was able to understand what she said she told Lily that it was only for emergencies and that if she needed money for supplies she should owl her and she will send money.  
  
Once all of the money things were sorted out, they headed back onto the crowded street. They decided to start on one side of the street and work their way around the whole alley. Rose was a champion bargain hunter, but since she did not know the merchandise very well, she couldn't really haggle or know if something was over priced. It burned her insides to have to pay full price, but there was nothing she could do. They went into so many stores that even Petunia would be tired of shopping by the time they were done, and that was saying something. Lily was not even tired; her adrenaline kept her going throughout the whole day. Normally she needed to stop and rest everyone once in awhile because of her crutches, but today she felt like she could do a marathon still.  
  
"Lily, is there anything else on your list you still need?" Rose breathed as she got to sit down and rest her tired feet.  
  
"Well, not that I need exactly, but there is something I would want. I mean Petunia broke my book bag, so I was wondering if there was any way I could get an owl. It would be so useful and that way I could write home more often!" After Lily said this while looking at her shoes, she shifted her gaze to look hopefully at her mother's face.  
  
"Well, alright, I guess that will be ok. Do you have in mind what kind of owl you would like?" Rose said watching her daughter's face light up in a way that made her happy to know she brought upon that happiness.  
  
"I'm not really sure. I think I will know once I see all of my choices though!"  
  
"Ok honey. Let's go!" Rose said as she prepared herself to stand back up, something she was not looking forward to doing. As she expected, it was not an enjoyable experience.  
  
The two headed down the alley towards the store they wanted, they had gotten to know the little street quite well that afternoon. As they entered the small store Lily coughed at the sudden smell that met her nose. Now came the hard part, choosing which one she liked best. Lily looked around and made a list of pros and cons in her head, crossing some off her lost right away, and keeping others on for closer consideration.  
  
Rose smiled as she watched her daughter move slowly through the shop. She could just see the mental list going on inside Lily's head. Her daughter was nothing if not organized. Well, as long as she had a while to wait, she might as well find a place to sit down. However, Lady Luck was not on her side, seeing as there was nowhere to sit down in the whole store, she would just have to suffer.  
  
One hour later  
  
"Lily, we have been here for over an hour! I need to go home and make dinner, have you decided on an owl yet?" Rose exclaimed out of frustration. Of course she wanted to give Lily the time she needed, but this was just going too far.  
  
"Well, not exactly. I have it narrowed down to two owls, but I'm not sure which I like better." Lily said chewing on her bottom lip, unsure of which to chose.  
  
Little did the two of them know, across the store, a young boy with messy black hair was having the same problem.  
  
"James Potter!!! Make up your mind! We must get home right away, I am sick of waiting, get a move on!"  
  
"MOM! I'm working on it! I can't seem to decide which is best, the tawny owl or the other tawny. Why does it have to be so hard?" The eleven-year- old boy said, furrowing his eyebrows.  
  
"Ok mom, I've decided!" They both yelled pointing at the same owl at the same time.  
  
Rose knew this was not going to end well when she heard someone else yell the same thing as Lily. "Oh well, might as well get this over with." She thought to herself as she walked over to her daughter.  
  
Lily turned looking at the boy next to her who had the nerve to want her owl! Then she realized that he didn't look mean or evil. He was just a regular kid who wanted an owl, which just happened to be the one she wanted. She couldn't hold that against him.  
  
"Well, I guess you can have that owl, and I will have the other one I wanted." Lily said with a smile on her face, wanting to be a nice person to others.  
  
"No, that's ok, you can have it, and I will take this one." James said remembering the rules and etiquette that his parents taught him. After all, she's a girl and she should get the owl. It was only right.  
  
"No, I insist, I don't need this one, you can take it. You saw it first; I only noticed that one fifteen minutes ago. It's all yours." Lily stated trying to push the cage into his hands.  
  
"There is no way I am taking this owl. Either you take it or neither of us has it, because I refuse to take it. That's just the way it is." James told her handing her the cage, and grabbing the other one that he was looking at. He then motioned to his mother to follow him and walked away from Lily.  
  
"Please take it, I don't feel right taking it from you!" Lily said pleading with his back, even though she could tell from the way he said it, he wasn't going to buy the owl. "Well, if he's ok with it, I might as well take it. It's no skin off my nose." She thought to herself as she walked up to the register with both mothers following their children with shocked looks on their faces, the two kids had solved this on their own, civilly! It was every mothers dream come true!  
  
"Well, I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Rose Evans." She said sticking out her hand to shake the woman's.  
  
"Harmony Potter" She stated taking Rose's hand. "And that would be my son James."  
  
"Oh yes, and my daughter Lily." She told her motioning to Lily at the counter.  
  
"I'm surprised they were able to settle that so nicely! Normally James would have been pig headed and would have fought with Lily until he died!"  
  
"I know! Lily is the same way! It's shocking, but definitely welcome!"  
  
Meanwhile Lily and James were introducing themselves to one another. They both were also learning that they would be going to Hogwarts together.  
  
"You'll want to be in Gryffindor, it's the best house, although Ravenclaw is not bad, it just is really obsessed with homework and studying. Slytherin is completely awful; everyone evil is in that house. Hufflepuffs aren't bad, but they are kind of airheads." James said explaining the different houses to Lily.  
  
"I see, well, I hope I'm placed in the right house, and not Slytherin. That would be awful! I'm not evil in the slightest!" Lily said as she handed over some money to the lady at the register. "And besides, I like the sound of Gryffindor. It seems like a lot fun happens in that house!"  
  
"It does. What's your Quiditch team?" He asked with excitement all over his face.  
  
Lily could tell he really enjoyed the sport, even if she only knew the basic rules by reading, it did sound fascinating and exciting. "Well, I don't really have a team, because I am muggle born. I only found out I was a witch this morning. I have been reading about it though, and it sounds wonderful!"  
  
"It's bloody brilliant! Oh, well I'll teach you all about it! I wish first years were allowed on the house team. I'll train so I can play next year though." James said this so fast that Lily had a hard time keeping up.  
  
"Ok James, please restrain yourself, you are scaring the poor girl! I'm sorry Lily; he just enjoys the sport a little too much. Just cut him off before he gets on a role, or he will talk your ear off." Harmony said as the two mothers walked up behind their children.  
  
"I'll keep that in mind, thank you Mrs. Potter." Lily said looking at James' mom for the first time. She really was beautiful. Not only in her looks, although those were gorgeous as well, she also had an air about her that gave you the feeling that she had the best heart in the world. She was the prettiest woman Lily had ever seen.  
  
"Well, I'm sorry to break this up, but Lily we must get home now. I need to make dinner before Petunia tries to make something herself." Mrs. Evans said when there was a lull in the conversation.  
  
Lily cringed at the thought of Petunia cooking. It was not a pretty sight. "Ok Mum, you have a point, we wouldn't want that to happen. James, I guess I will see you on The Hogwarts Express. Thank you for letting me get the owl!"  
  
"No problem, see you then! Also, to get onto the platform, just walk in between the barriers of nine and ten into the wall, you will get on the train from there." James said waving to Lily as she walked out the door.  
  
"Well James, that was very polite of you to offer the owl to Lily. I am very proud of you! Is there a possibility that you like her?" Harmony said looking at her son with the look in her eye of a mother with a scheme.  
  
"Mum! Not at all! She is just a nice person! I wouldn't want to think of her like that! She's just a girl that I would like to be friends with! I can't believe you even thought that!" James said looking at his mother with disgust.  
  
"Well, you can't blame a person for trying to find you a nice girl! Ok, let's go, your father is expecting us at the manor." She said walking towards the fireplace in the shop while reaching into a pouch she kept in her purse. As she sprinkled some floo powder onto the flames James stepped into the fireplace and yelled "Potter Manor!" before spinning away into a chimney. Once she saw that he was safely off, she disappeared with a pop.  
  
Meanwhile on the street  
  
"Well Lily, it looks like you have already made your first friend! That's very nice! And he was such a handsome boy too, you have wonderful luck!" Rose said as they walked back towards the exit to the Leaky Cauldron.  
  
"Oh my goodness Mum!!!! That is horrible! I don't want think of James like that! He was just a nice person whom I would like to be friends with, nothing more! I'm only eleven for goodness sake!" Lily said looking at her mother with a shocked/ disturbed look on her face.  
  
"Sorry honey, I know I used to hate it when my mother did that to me too, I'll try and stop." She replied with an apologetic look on her face. "Now, lets get home and show Petunia what we bought!"  
  
"Not that she will care." Lily muttered under her breath following her mother to their car.  
  
A/N: OK, I am soooooo sorry that this took too long, but school has been so hectic and my entire family has been sick. I am now sick, so if the last couple parts don't make sense, sorry, but I have been stopping every sentence to blow my nose. Ok, please tell me your thoughts! 


End file.
